


The Unkindness of Task Keeping

by Zampano



Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: 00Q - Freeform, M/M, Poetry, all i do is write fandom poetry I GUESS, and an inevitability, but as a 00 that might be warranted, implied future potential character death, or anxiety about it at least
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:20:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22508452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zampano/pseuds/Zampano
Summary: How many things can you send out there only to have them come back broken? The answer will surprise you.
Relationships: James Bond/Q
Comments: 1
Kudos: 24





	The Unkindness of Task Keeping

001.  
Here is the cardinal rule: everything is ammunition.  
All things are volatile. A body can be an artillery closet.  
Some things are unseen. All you have to do is give him all things lethal and deadly and life will not fight back.

002.  
But life fights back.  
You give him a car, and he christens it leviathan.  
You give him a gun, and he christens it pandemonium.  
You give him a key and you tell him to be gentle on the lock, but he has to set his demons forth.  
You design a deadbolt.

003.  
He loses himself and makes you locate him. Seventh circle. Violence and suicides.  
Here are the harpies, he says, and you take back the leviathan.

004.  
You are in a castle now, and that castle has seven gates.  
You stand here, and you’re holding back the virtues all by your lonesome.

005.  
Was it worth it? you asked him, in a Pret A Manger.  
Was it worth you? you ask him, at the Carlton Ritz.  
Were we worth enough? you’ll ask the pall over his casket. It’ll be a Union Flag.  
Or a Union Jack, as long as there was still someone at the rudder  
ready to go down with all of this.

006.  
Here is the second rule. Everything can be taken apart. Everything can be smashed. Everything can be run under the continuous track of a bulldozer until all that remains is despair and dust. Everything can be lost, or dropped into the sea. Try for novelty, a volcano. Nothing is coming back unharmed, not even this.

007.  
You tell him, you be the smoke. I'll be the mirrors. Let's see how long a road the lies can lay before us.


End file.
